If cobra venom had already been revealed as a potent biomedical tool against diseases such as cancer, wasp venom would also contain toxins with antitumor properties. This is confirmed by a new study by the Barcelona Institute for Biomedical Research, which has successfully tested a treatment that causes cancer cells to die from a peptide from this toxic substance , in a controlled environment outside of a living organism ( in vitro ). The results, although encouraging, are very preliminary and should be replicated in experiments with mice.
The peptide, a type of molecule formed by the union of several amino acids, has the ability to form pores in the cell plasma membrane, penetrate inside it and cause its death, either by necrosis or by apoptosis (programmed cell destruction) . However, this molecule, if inoculated, would not only damage tumor cells but would also affect healthy cells of the patient, which, added to its high toxicity, made its medical application unfeasible a priori.
To solve this problem, the researchers designed a means of transporting the peptide to the tumor and accumulating it in a specific and controlled way, based on a carrier polymer . This is composed of the cytotoxic peptide in question, and a peptide that binds to a receptor on tumor cells. The in vitro experiments were successful: the substance was properly distributed within tumor cells, while healthy cells, such as red blood cells, remained unaware of its effects, as explained by Miguel Moreno, lead author of the research, to the scientific news agency SINC.
Although the finding is only the preamble to the research , the authors are optimistic about the potential applications of this antitumor therapy.
